Vitamins – An introduction

What are vitamins? We hear the word almost daily but are we actually clear as to what it means?

It is hard to exactly define a vitamin, but it is often referred to as a small molecule that is essential for an organisms to survive. The vitamin cannot be synthesized by the organism, or, cannot be synthesized in sufficiently large enough amounts.

This is slightly confusing as it does not include other essential nutrients such as essential amino acids, minerals, essential fatty acids.

The next few postings will deal with the vitamins, A, B, C, D and K.